1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"You're starting to lose that Nathan Hale thing you had going", July 30, 2011
This review is from: Latin Dragon (DVD)
Aided by a
Yojimbo-derivative plot, a decent cast of action players, and his physical similarity to Ray Romano, karate practitioner Fabian Carillo adds his name to the growing list of modern action heroes making their starring debut in the medium of DTV films. "Latin Dragon" is apparently Carillo's dream project, as he not only starred in but also co-wrote/conceived and produced the film; but beyond the novelty of Carillo's being one of the first few Latino action heroes (contrary to the DVD's tagline, Antonio Banderas and costar Lorenzo Lamas technically had Carillo beat by several years in this respect), his movie isn't all that special - just a so-so low-budget martial arts flick that has nothing really wrong with it but doesn't have a lot going for it either.
The story: Daniel Silva (Carillo,
Best Revenge) arrives home in the aftermath of his teacher's murder at the hands of a deadly street gang. Taking it on himself to put an end to the widespread street violence, Silva will need to face off with an ambitious crime lord (Gary Busey,
Lethal Weapon) planning even more death and destruction to achieve his ends.
The storyline's pretty standard, although this counts as one of the few films I've seen examine the self-destruction of the Hispanic community via organized crime. The acting content's pretty passable: you can take or leave Carillo for what he is, but folks like Gary Busey and Robert LaSardo (
Death Race) help him along in strong supporting roles, and James Hong (
Big Trouble in Little China) and Tony Perez (
Right at Your Door) add their natural talent and enthusiasm to a handful of scenes.
The production values and editing quality are in the higher middle rungs for this kind of movie: there are some occasional slip-ups in quality and more than once you'll have to contend with stupid rapid-fire editing montages - not to mention a pretty childish-looking opening logo - but otherwise it looks just about as professional as an independent production can, with good cinematography capturing its colorful urban L.A. setting just fine.
The fight scenes are what I was interested in primarily, but they may be the least interesting aspect of the movie. Fabian Carillo shows off his extensive martial arts knowledge through varied choreography, from basic roundhouse kicks to intricate aikido wrist throws, but overzealous editing severely diminishes the four brawls. The finale of these features Carillo in a two-on-one fight against Deron McBee (
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) and Lorenzo Lamas (
Renegade) - a rare instance of Lamas using his established stardom to put over another performer, nevertheless marred by the fact that he uses a stunt double half of the time and the fight's extremely unclimatic ending.
There's not much more to say about this one. If you're interested in martial arts flicks, you could do better than "Latin Dragon", but it's still a decent first solo vehicle for a fellow you've never heard of but who could become a considerable player in the action game if he's up for some self-improvement. Purchase at your own discretion.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing Special, but it's a Start., November 21, 2004
This review is from: Latin Dragon (DVD)
I'm always interested in films starring Latinos, and fortunately, more are coming out these days bringing
out a talent that can be refreshing and original. Latin Dragon, unfortunately offers little of this. It starts out with a portrayal of some realistic-looking LA gang villians, many of which looked exactly like the kind of gangbangers that made life so miserable for many of us when I was growing up as a kid. Unfortunately, the hero is not the one to put an end to their antics in the end. It is their blonde, European White employer, who has them shot while they're sleeping! What a disappointment. It's almost as the film makers ran out of time, budget, or both. At that point in the film, the movie ended up dropping to the typical B, video release only flick, with the typical European bad guy at the top, storyline common to Lorenzo Lamas films like Bounty Tracker. Lorenzo is in this, by the way, and fights the hero to a standstill in the end. The hero's martial art skill is a tad below decent, offering nothing original or of the intensity you'd like to see punish these murderous gangbangers. It too resembles the Lorenzo Lamas type karate from his 1990s video action film genre. The story writing gets a little far fetched when the hero is arrested by LAPD, on the charge of killing all of the sleeping gangbangers and his cop brother is allowed to drive him away in his squad car to the police station alone. Yeah, right! Well, the brother ends up being in cahoots with the blonde, European bad guys and takes his brother to them instead of the police station, apparently unconcerned that his detour will most doubt be noticed by LAPD. With such lame story writing, I'm sure you'll be able to predict what's next. Latin Dragon was a disappointment, but since it is one of the first martial art films by Latinos, it hopefully, is a stepping stone for future improvement.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Muy Bien!, January 21, 2005
This review is from: Latin Dragon (DVD)
There are three things that the average action hero never did until now.
1.)Flip his dancing partner to kick an adversary.
2.)Kick a coffee table at an oncoming agressor
3.)Avoid striking a female opponent by binding her with a telephone cord.
Martial Arts expert Fabian Carrillo gets his shot at being a Latino Bruce Lee and accomplishes all three in LATIN DRAGON, which makes it more than worth seeing.
On top of all of that, he gives Gary Busey one hell of a flying sidekick.
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